PC going to sleep

[me2jr2]

I'm having a problem with my PC loading. I have an HP a750y and run Win XP. I have plenty of memory. I have done all of the scans and do not get errors. My screen simply freezes in the middle of a program (any program) and then goes to sleep. I can not wake it up! I've tried everything. I have to hit the power button to turn it off. A while later I turn it back on and sometimes it loads fine, other times it just shows the message "going to sleep" and I'm back to square 1. I've reseated the video card, switched out the mouse, monitor and keyboard, changed the cables and electrical cords and boxes. Any ideas? :confused:

[Seth]

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Me.

 

What scans have you done?

 

Also try running hard drive error checking:

 

Go to Start>Run, type in chkdsk /r (space between the K and the /) and press ok. At the black window that appears, choose "Y". Restart the computer and the error checking will proceed. It could take up to two hours.

[me2jr2]

PC going to sleep

 

I've checked for viruses, spybots, defragmented and ran PC Dr. I will try the Chkdsk /r. Thank you. Do you think it could be my video card or hard drive going bad?:confused:

[Seth]

It's too early to tell what the problem is.

 

What AntiVirus and/or AntiSpyware applications did you run?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Also try going into Power Option Properties in Control Panel and untick Enable Hibernation.

Make sure that;

 

Turn Off Monitor

 

Turn Off Hard Disks

 

and

 

System Standby

 

are all set to Never.

[me2jr2]

Still need help

 

I've made sure that the power supply was as it should be, I've defragged, and ran the ckdsk scan. I am running McAfee complete virus protection suite. I also ran spybot S&D. I was told to reseat the video card, which I did and it worked fine for about 3 days. It is just so undependable. Sometimes the computer comes on fine, other times it goes to sleep or just stops running in the middle of (of course) my reports for work.

 

Any other ideas? Thanks for the help.:(

[JEBWrench]

Have you tried cleaning out the cpu, graphics card, power supply, and any other internal fans? I believe it's possible for a system to go into standby or sleep rather than powering down completely if there's a heat problem.

[me2jr2]

Still need help

 

I actually took the PC apart and and used canned air to clean out the entire PC. All of the fans are working and the samll fan that I have attached the side of my desk facing the PC is on, so it should not get hot enough to shut down.

 

Could this be a sign of something going wrong...say the video card or the hard drive? How would I be able to tell if it is and what it would be? Is there some way to run a test on the PC to find out?

 

Thanks for your ideas and help. You guys and gals are the greatest! ;)

[me2jr2]

New symptoms

 

OK, last night I was doing some work on the PC (after it finally loaded up) and all of the sudden it made this weird noise (it came from the speakers) like riding on a flat or like bikes would make with the baseball cards in the spokes. Then the screen froze, and that was the end of the computer for the night. I had to hit the power button to shut it down. I waited 15 min. an tried to boot it up but no go. I unplugged the speaker system and I waited another 30 min. and nothing. This am, nothing. Tonight, well as you can see - it's up and running, for now.

 

Does this help anyone get any ideas of what could be going wrong with my PC? I can't stand this undependable state of use. The PC is about 4 yrs. old and has lots of memory and always was fast. There is still a lot of unused space on my hard drive. Please help!:confused:

[maynardvdm]

Hi

 

Can you also tell us what anti-virus software you are using?

 

Did you do the chkdsk like Seth suggested and what was the results?

[Tony D]

Are you seeing anything on the screen when the machine starts? Before Windows loads, the computer will check its hardware to make sure everything is OK. It then proceeds to load Windows. If you're not even getting the black screen with text writing that usually comes up, then I suspect a hardware problem.

 

You can try to remove any expansion cards - like extra USB, Firewire cards that may be installed. If you don't have on-board graphics, reseat the graphics card. Also, reseat the RAM.

[me2jr2]

I'm running McAfee Virus Protection Suite. I did the chkdsk and it seemed to be OK. I found no viruses, no spys, no bad sectors, found all of the hardware, although the DVD RW does not seem to recognize any disks in the drive when I put them in. I got a diagnostic testing disk from HP an ran it. Nothing seemed to be wrong until I did the long test (says it could take up to 2 hrs) it froze after about 20 minutes. I had to power off and didn't try it again. Since nothing came up that said "your hard drive is going" or "Your video card needs to be replaced" it didn't help me much. I don't understand what all of the computer jargon is well enough to dicipher the outcome with a diagnosis. Any other ideas? Should I maybe reformat the hard drive?

[me2jr2]

Sometimes I see a white flashing curser in the top left hand corner, then the white writing on the black screen an then the windows page comes on. Other times I get a small square in the middle of the screen that says "going to sleep" in yellow letters and the monitor light changes to yellow and then the computer power button light changes to yellow also and I have to push the power button to turn it off, nothing else will work. Nothing is loose in the computer. sometimes when I am using the computer and everything seems to be ok, it suddenly freezes. Only the power button will shut it down, there is no reaction to mouse, keyboard, or anything else. This is so frustrating. It is not dependable. Diagnosing the problem is harder than fixing it.

[maynardvdm]

As you already cleaned the pc and done chkdsk, i would just also run these scans :

• Follow these instructions carefully.
  
• Download ATF-Cleaner from Snapfiles.com to remove "junk" files from your computer that may contain malware.
  
• You can also download it from Majorgeeks.com
  
• When you run ATF-Cleaner, check the items as shown below for Main.
  
• For FireFox, be sure to click on the FireFox tab on top and check the items as shown below for FireFox
  
• NOTE: If you don't have FireFox or Opera installed then they will be grayed out and can be ignored
  
• Then click on "Empty Selected".

http://kixhelp.com/wr/images-freepchelp/atf-cleaner01.gif . http://kixhelp.com/wr/images-freepchelp/atf-cleaner02.gif

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Install and run the free version (not the Professional version) of SUPERAntiSpyware from SUPERAntiSpyware.com - AntiAdware, AntiSpyware, AntiMalware!
  • Accept any prompts to allow SUPERAntiSpyware to install the latest rules and infection definition files.
    
  • You do not have to send them your e-mail address, just click next.
    
  • You can leave the automated check for updates on.
    
  • You can uncheck "Send a diagnostic report to research center" if you don't want to send the information.
    
  • DO NOT allow SUPERAntiSpyware to protect your Home Page settings.
    
  • On the Top Left select the Scan your computer button.
    
  • Make sure there is a CHECK MARK on all Fixed Drives.
    
  • Click "Perform a Complete Scan". Click "Next" and reboot the computer when prompted to do so.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Install and run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from this link.
  
• Malwarebytes - click to directly download the application
  
• Accept all defaults for the installer and then click on the Quick Scan and click Next.
  
• If any items are found allow it to clean them and then Reboot your computer.

• Disable your internet security by right clicking on its icon (usually located in the system tray next to the time display) and choosing "Exit", "Disable", or "Shut Down".
  
• Run an online scan with Eset from Free Virus Scan: Use ESET's Online Antivirus Scanner
  
• You must use Internet Explorer for this online scan. FireFox, Opera, etc will not work for this scan.
  
• Accept the terms and click "Start".
  
• Once the scanner is ready, check "Remove found threats" AND "Scan unwanted applications".
  
• Click "Start" to begin the scan.
  
• When completed restart your computer

Make sure your internet security is enabled, and then please return to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help and tell us how the computer seems to be operating.

At that time, you will receive instructions to assist you in removing malicious programs from your Add/Remove program list if warranted.

 

If that doesn't work and the other members don't have any more advice then i would suggest a repair install of windows.

[me2jr2]

PC going to sleep

 

Sorry it took me so long to get back here. I couldn't get the computer back on to try the scans you suggested. So finally I did all of the above suggestions, and still it comes on sometimes and goes to sleep sometimes. It is so undependable that I had to borrow another computer to complete the task I was doing. I am on the borrowed computer now. Any othe ideas? Also the computer I am on now does not recognize my audio system and speakers. They are Altec Lansing. I don't have an install and set-up disk for them. I believe it is on one of the originally loaded set-up disks. How can I tell which one it would be on? What will happen if I put the disks in the computer now? Will it load everything? Will it give me an option to choose what I want to reload? Or will it reinstall everything? So many questions...so little time. Thanks for your help.

[Seth]

My screen simply freezes in the middle of a program (any program) and then goes to sleep.

 

I assume by "sleep" you mean it just seems to shut down. Correct?

 

The difficulty is determining if the issue is being caused by software or hardware.

 

I would really like to see what's running on your computer. Please click here to download the HijackThis Installer. Run the progam and choose "Scan Only". Please copy and paste that log back in this thread.

[me2jr2]

PC going to sleep

 

I can't do that until it wakes up again. When I turn it on, sometimes it goes to sleep right away. Sometimes it will start windows xp right away. Right now it doesn't want to run.

 

Until then can anyone tell me about how to find the download and install for the speakers? Please see my last post. Thanks for the help.

[maynardvdm]

Hi i believe you can find the drivers here.